Trip Summary, Lessons Learned

Our first long RV trip was everything we expected and more. The RV performed extremely well and our advance planning paid off. We arrived on the planned day at each stop-over point and, with a few exceptions, kept our driving time to within reasonable limits.

The RV is cleaned inside and out and put back in storage ready for the next trip. Planning starts soon. In the meantime, here is a summary of the trip along with some metrics to help future budgeting and planning.

Before we get to that, thanks to all who have followed our adventure and read along as we progressed on our trip. I'd love for you to leave a comment or two to let me know if you have questions, or just want to weigh in with your thoughts. Just scroll down to the bottom of any of the posts and you'll find a place to add a comment.

• We got our kicks on Route 66
• We stood on a corner in Winslow Arizona
• We visited 8 National Parks (Petrified Forest, Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef, Canyonlands, Arches, Rocky Mountain ... 
• ... and 3 National Monuments (Pipe Springs, Grand Staircase Escalante, Cedar Breaks)
• Our elevation varied from about 300 feet to over 11,000 feet above sea level
• We camped in or visited 4 State Parks (Cedars of Lebanon, TN; Dead Horse Point, UT; Prairie Dog, KS; Chickasaw, TN)
• We found that the Army Corps of Engineers operates campgrounds across the country, most often by water. We stayed in two, both in Arkansas: Maumelle and Willow Beach
• The National Parks "Senior Access" Pass ($10 for lifetime) is a great deal. Get it soon, price escalates to $80 in August.

Total Trip duration: 51 days
Miles driven, in the RV: 6280
States visited: 11*
National Parks/National Monuments: 11
Average Fuel Consumption: 8.4 mpg
Average Fuel Cost: $2.10/gallon
Highest fuel cost: Utah, especially near the parks (as much as $2.79/gal)
Campgrounds Used:18 (12 commercial, 6 public)
Average Nightly campground cost: $34.39
Least costly: Willow Beach Park, Army Corps of Engineers in Tennessee $9.50
Most costly: Canyonlands RV Park, Moab, Utah
Favorite Commercial Campground: Willow Wind RV Park, Hurricane, UT
Favorite Public Campground: Maumelle, Army Corps of Engineers near Little Rock in Arkansas

Here are some lessons learned, in no particular order:

• Planning pays, but it does constrain, meaning there is a commitment to get to the next location on the day of the reservation. 
• Quality of the campground is not commensurate with price. The best campgrounds were often the least expensive. 
• Public campgrounds do not always have large sites. Some were just as jammed as the commercial properties. The largest sites were in the Corps of Engineer parks. They were also the prettiest - along a major waterway.
• 6 hours of planned driving is too long. We found that it takes about 2 hours additional for breaks including fuel and lunch. The trip planners are optimistic about time - and use a speed that is higher that we like to drive in a large RV. 4 hours were much more comfortable. 
• It's nice to arrive at the campground around 2 or 3 in the afternoon to allow time to set up and relax before dinner. 
• Build in an occasional rest day, especially if you plan on driving several days to reach a final destination.  Also, allow some time for sightseeing while on the way. We did a few of these, but would have liked to have had more leisure (i.e., non-driving time) while en route to GCNP.
• The National Parks are crowded. 
• WiFi in the commercial campgrounds was more than adequate for email and blogging. I never felt that it was too slow - but then I was not trying to stream video. 
• Don't rely on cell phone service in remote areas. Even the state parks that were not close to an Interstate highway had poor service. Any campground near an Interstate had great service.
• Using a rental car may be more cost effective than owning a special, towable vehicle and modifying it as a toad. Certainly it's not as convenient; but finding a rental outlet that picked us up at the campground was only a problem in Grand Canyon National Park. But then, we did not need a car there at all with the robust bus system in the park. 
• We took too much stuff; especially staple items for meals like spices and condiments. Good meal planning should identify what is needed - and only take those things. 
• RV air conditioners cannot keep up when the temperature is in the 90's or better and the sun is bright. Shade helps tremendously. 
• RVs tuned for sea level do not climb hills well at 8000+ feet. 
•  A collapsible wagon is handy for toting laundry to the laundromat. In GCNP, the laundromat was .7 miles from the Trailer Village - a long walk both ways carrying 4 loads of laundry. We found a nice wagon at Wal-Mart for $45. 
• If you are used to doing your laundry at home, be prepared for the challenges of a laundromat. Dryers don't dry your clothes in 30 minutes - save your quarters because you'll need lots of 'em. Take a good book and be prepared to set for a few hours while the machines do their thing. 
• Use as many on line tools as you can to check out a campground before making a reservation. Not all campgrounds are appropriate for all types of RVs. Some are old and in poor repair; others are brand new and have small trees with little shade. We were in several campgrounds that had no grass which can be a problem if you are traveling with a dog. Using the overhead or satellite view in your mapping apps can help ascertain the condition of the campground.

 We are planning now for a non-camping adventure. We have a good friend who lives on the path of totality for the August 21 total solar eclipse. So we'll be traveling back to Lenoir City for a short visit and a day in the sun. We already have our glasses.

*States in order of visit: Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri. We stopped in some of these twice, but only counted them once.

We're Home

We arrived home around 3:30 on Sunday, July 16. We talked as we drove about how much we enjoyed this wonderful trip and that we definitely would do it again. We have some lessons learned (come back later) and some things we'd do differently. But overall, this has been a great trip.

Next step: get the RV cleaned up, make some minor repairs of things that broke, and get it back into storage until our next trip. What will that be? No plans yet. I'll still post a summary of this great adventure in a few days.

Ft. Chiswell RV Park, Ft. Chiswell, VA

We are on the home stretch, crossing from Tennessee back into Virginia around 11:00 AM on Saturday, July 15. We are continuing to keep the drives short, so stopped at Ft. Chiswell RV Park along I-81. We have a nice flat, level concrete pad on our site; but many sites are gravel. We are enjoying our last camping day for this trip, and preparing the rig for arrival home on Sunday.

Come back in a few days for a trip summary and preparations for our next adventure. It won't be a camping trip - but it will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Lenoir City, TN

We left Cedars of Lebanon on July 13 and drove about 2 1/2 hours to Lenoir City, TN, a bit south and west of Knoxville. We visited with a good friend there through Friday. During our visit, we ventured into Knoxville and the campus of the University of Tennessee to check out the McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture. This was an excellent, well done, small museum with about 8 different exhibits ranging from ancient Egypt to the geology of Tennessee. We highly recommend this museum to anyone with an hour to spare while in the Knoxville area.

Cedars of Lebanon State Park, Lebanon, TN

Wednesday, July 12 was a short-drive day. We much prefer these as we have more time to enjoy the campground, do some reading, and just chill after the drive. We stopped to revisit Cedars of Lebanon - where our trip really got started seven weeks ago. I believe during our last visit I commented that the campground was not very clean - lots of tree debris on the ground. Between then and now, the campground crews had done a lot of work and the environment was much more pleasant. There were a lot fewer campers there too this time - I'd guess the loop we were in ("A") was only about 1/2 full.

One more comment about Tennessee state parks: we've stayed in two during this trip. They offer WiFi (not very common in public parks), but it is very limited. It was strong and relatively fast, but limited to 4 days and 200 megabytes (total). Another 200 MB cost $9.99. That seems a bit pricey to me. But we found that 200 MB was sufficient for our needs.

Chickasaw State Park, Henderson, TN

Continuing our return trip to our home we left Willow Beach a bit late, but only had a 3 1/2 hour drive to our next stop. We took a long lunch break at a Tennessee rest stop east of Memphis and then left I-40 to drive into Chickasaw State Park. Mistake number 1: it was too far off our route so we wasted about 2 hours getting there and then back onto I-40. Mistake number 2: we did not check out this campground very well.

The first red flag was that there was no attendant. No one to check in with, no one to get a campground map from or the wifi code (yes, there was wifi; no we could not use it). Even the campground host was absent. So we walked the loop to find our site; it already had our reservation tag on it, so we were expected. Then we drove in - talk about tense. The hills and curves were extreme and even though the trees were trimmed back, they were a bit close to the road. There were deep gullies along the road edge and the roads were badly beaten up. This campground was in serious disrepair. No one had cleaned debris off the pads (they were paved at least), and the picnic tables were filthy. The bathhouses were old and outdated; but functional.

Our site was on an incline such that our auto-levelers would not get it right. So we blocked up the front to get a bit more level; left the large slide in and used only our small bedroom slide. It was tight inside but it was just for the one night. We survived.

Moral of this story: use whatever tools are available to carefully check out the campground and get a feel for how it's laid out. Too many trees might be a problem and lots of tight curves might preclude larger vehicles. I can't imagine a 45-footer navigating that road. 

Chickasaw won our vote for "worst of the trip"; and at $32/night, was not a good value. We would not recommend this place except for the shortest of camper vehicles and trailers and then be prepared for a more primitive woodsy environment. To its credit, it was a pretty place if you like lots of trees and hills. Campsites were spacious, but full of gullies, pits, and washes. A heavy rain would make things quite unpleasant. There are better choices closer to the Interstate.

Scott, AR - Willow Beach Park

Continuing our long trek home and keeping the driving time to around 4 hours or less, we stopped for the night outside Little Rock, AR at another campground managed by the Corps of Engineers (recall we stopped at Maumelle on the way to Grand Canyon). This is another nice park on the Arkansas River with huge sites and lots of space to enjoy the views of the river. This park sits on a peninsula with water on two sides; but is a very small campground having only 21 RV sites. It is not full.

We arrived around 4:30 having left our site in Caddo Mills a bit later than usual. We topped off the propane tank and then fueled up at a Pilot as we left town.

A word about gas prices: we have paid between 1.80 and 2.80 depending on where we purchased. Utah fuel was by far the highest anywhere. So far, Arkansas has been the least expensive.

The site we chose presented some serious issues with leveling our RV - so we had to move to another vacant site. We tried for an hour to get leveled but the automatic leveling jacks could not adjust for the incline we were on. Once on the alternate site, we were set up in about 15 minutes. I think we will need to get the levelers checked next time we go in for service.